Children of the Dream: Why School Integration Works

by Rucker C. Johnson, Alexander Nazaryan (Contributor)

An acclaimed economist reveals that school integration efforts in the 1970s and 1980s were overwhelmingly successful -- and argues that we must renew our commitment to integration for the sake of all AmericansWe are frequently told that school integration was a social experiment doomed from the start. But as Rucker C. Johnson demonstrates in Children of the Dream, it was, in fact, a spectacular achievement. Drawing on longitudinal studies going back to the 1960s, he shows that students who attended integrated and well-funded schools were more successful in life than those who did not -- and this held true for children of all races.Yet as a society we have given up on integration. Since the high point of integration in 1988, we have regressed and segregation again prevails. Contending that integrated, well-funded schools are the primary engine of social mobility, Children of the Dream offers a radical new take on social policy. It is essential reading in our divided times.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Race, Politics, History

285 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 16, 2019

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subtitle obscures how depressing this book is. It's not so much "why school integration works" as it is "the disaster of how we don't have integration." It is readable though and accurate as far as I know. Thus it would likely be a very good introduction to the topic for people who have never heard of the Coleman Report or Wake County.

The book's focus is on the author's own academic research about integration; and then a lot of historical background is thrown in. So it wound up as neither fish nor fowl; neither a comprehensive synthesis of the research on integration, nor a stirring narrative.

Other suggestion:

Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh

[Derek Ouyang · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for one book to give me everything I needed to know about the history and science of school integration, and this very much was it.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "Children of the Dream," economist Rucker C. Johnson, with an able journalistic assist from Alexander Nazaryan, summarizes academic research that “points incontrovertibly to three powerful cures to unequal educational opportunity: (1) integration, (2) equitable school funding, and (3) high-quality preschool investments.”

“In most places and times, these policies were advanced one at a time, unevenly and inconsistently” and that variation across districts, they explain, “is exactly what offers us a rare testing ground.” Comparing outcomes in kids who did and didn’t have these initiatives rolled out during their school years allowed Johnson and his team of researchers to tease out the independent value offered by all three. That includes desegregation, which turns out to have been “such a powerful force that its beneficial impacts persist to influence the outcomes of the next generation.”

But the most impressive data Johnson offers up shows “significant positive synergistic effects” between these policies. For example, “[f]or poor children, the combined benefits of growing up in districts with both greater Head Start spending and greater K-12 per-pupil spending were significantly greater than the sum of the independent effects of the two investments in isolation.”

Why then is integration viewed as a noble but failed experiment? Why is the conventional wisdom that Head Start provides little to no benefit, just the opportunity for fraud? What explains the lack of popularity of funding formulas that offer more assistance to schools that need it more?

Part of the problem, they say, is spin. In the segregation context, for example, “even outside the Deep South recalcitrant whites manipulated and marshaled public will in a way that allowed opponents of integration to appear not to be racists. They resorted to powerful code words—like 'neighborhood schools,' 'local control,' and 'forced busing,' to summon profound, if rarely spoken, racial fears.… This strategy worked, and it contains a devilish dilemma: even as researchers ... have shown that integration works, much of the public has been erroneously convinced of the very opposite.” 

Part of it is “our collective impatience, an unwillingness to see measures through, a willingness to abandon anything and everything that does not show immediate results.” Here, Johnson points a finger at both policymakers and other researchers: "Education reform often proceeds by a kind of punctuated equilibrium. We implement some new whiz-bang reform, let it run its course for a little while, but then become impatient because things haven’t improved as much as we wanted them too: test scores haven’t jumped, for example. Studies are published to confirm that, yes, indeed, X reform failed to achieve Y effect…. New fixes are tried, reversed, and then new fixes are tried again…. Too often, we take the pan out of the oven far too early, only to find the result woefully undercooked…. Other [academics take] snapshots of school funding reform efforts [that may provide] some clarity, but only about a strictly limited period of time. Our study sought to take something closer to a time-lapsed video, looking at the effect of school funding reform over decades." 

With a long view, Johnson’s work (the intricacies of which can be found in the endnotes) proves that Head Start and school funding reform have worked. What’s more, “[c]ontrary to popular wisdom, integration has benefited—and continues to benefit—African Americans, whether that benefit is translated into educational attainment, earnings, social stability, or incarceration rates. Whites, meanwhile, lose nothing from opening their classrooms to others.” 

Throughout, the authors’ writing is clear and as close to conversational as academic discourse can be. They even produce some truly stunning prose, for example, “segregation is not only about separation of people, but it is segregations—hoarding, in fact—of opportunity” and “[l]ike many poor people, both then and now, she understood the value of education but didn’t have the tools to extract that value for her own children.”

"Children of the Dream" ends with a forceful call to action that is as optimistic as it is stark: “How much longer will we bemoan the state of affairs while lamenting that nothing can be done? Much can be done…. We have tools that are, in some cases, decades old, but that nevertheless have the capacity to drastically correct some of the gravest inequalities in American society ... that have flummoxed policymakers for decades…. [Realizing this potential] will require an extraordinary coordination of resources and effort, but every solution proffered in these pages is fully within the realm of possibility.”

Johnson and Nazaryan conclude, “We believe that the American project is not so much imperfect as it is not yet fully realized.” Their book, however, is—and I highly recommend it to anyone who cares about education or inequality.

[Marna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Good Read. Full Of Historical Data. Supports Well Funded Public Schools; and student advantages when schools integrated. Disputes need of neighborhood schools. Feels that education reform continues having problems due to wanting "instant results".

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good history and analysis of school desegregation and resegregation, ranging from the 1950s to the 2010s. Johnson covers the major court cases - even those leading up to Brown and those after - that worked to desegregate our nation's schools. He then covers the court cases and other phenomena that lead to schools becoming more segregated in the period since 1988. In addition to his history of events and court cases, he provides analyses backing up why integration is necessary to ensure all American students have the ability to succeed.

Most of that analysis relies on economic factors and I do wish that there was more analysis from a social sciences perspective. Other than that, my main complaint is that the current school privatization efforts being headed by the Right are barely mentioned. I think that's a crucial part left out, as these efforts between charter schools and voucher programs have exacerbated school segregation and have contributed to even further sliding of a "separate and unequal" paradigm.

[Katharine Strange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnson lays out nearly 50 years of empirical data to demonstrate exactly what is wrong with American education and how to fix it. By following students from the first attempts at racial integration through to the generation that benefited from mandated integration through to today's re-segregation, he shows again and again that increased school funding, racial integration, and universal preschool have far-reaching impacts not just on the students concerned, but on their children and even their grandchildren.

If America is ever going to take its own proposition that "all men are created equal" seriously, we have to have a political and cultural awakening and reject existing narratives of "local control" and "good schools" which systematically exclude BIPOC students.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you care about racial justice and education, you must read this book!

It reveals the sometimes hidden forces at work that lead to the segregation, desegregation, and resegregation of public schools in the US.

It's great writing - the actions of brave Civil Rights activists and ordinary citizens behind Brown v. Board of Education, school finance reform, school integration, and Head Start make for fascinating stories. And the book is ultimately hopeful - there are data-based WAYS to close the racial gaps in American schools, and to end cycles of poverty.

The question is - do we have the WILL to see it through?

[Emily Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but surface level, historical and contemporary discussion of school integration efforts as well as re-segregation trends. The different case studies of cities in the North and South were good to read. I wish there was more emphasis on the contemporary legal arguments that lead to re-segregation. I also thought there could be more about Johnson's original empirical analysis that used longitudinal survey data which found that integration only helped students and did not harm students. This finding is very important and I wish there was more ideas on how to use social science to counter-act narratives about the fear of integration and white flight.

[Jac · Rating 4 out of 5]

So depressing reading this from Seattle while mostly white parents* continue to fight for literally anything as more important than integration or equal opportunity.

* oh sorry yes also Jewish parents and Asian tech immigrant parents who are of course all equally not white and just not as disadvantaged in their Crown Hill house as the poverty line Black and African refugee children in south seattle. It’s not about race! It’s literally about get my kids everything, ignore if it disadvantages anyone else, shout it to the rooftops if it accidentally helps someone disadvantaged.

[Christian Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great piece by a great guy (biased by the fact he’s a former professor of mine). It laid out exactly what I needed by way of stats and storytelling around school integration and some of the disparities around schools. I will definitely add it to my collection of books around understanding America, and it’s racism, for future reference.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave a lot of history on an important topic, but I wish it had more anecdotes. It's a long book to read so much history and research results. It's a very important topic, though.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great summary of the research and a compelling read. Hard to do both

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for educ 2410, very cool cases included

[Matthew Chavkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not particularly well written but well researched and broad review of integration efforts, good historical summary since Brown v Board of Education.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "Children of the Dream," economist Rucker C. Johnson, with an able journalistic assist from Alexander Nazaryan, summarizes academic research that “points incontrovertibly to three powerful cures to unequal educational opportunity: (1) integration, (2) equitable school funding, and (3) high-quality preschool investments.”

“In most places and times, these policies were advanced one at a time, unevenly and inconsistently” and that variation across districts, they explain, “is exactly what offers us a rare testing ground.” Comparing outcomes in kids who did and didn’t have these initiatives rolled out during their school years allowed Johnson and his team of researchers to tease out the independent value offered by all three. That includes desegregation, which turns out to have been “such a powerful force that its beneficial impacts persist to influence the outcomes of the next generation.”

But the most impressive data Johnson offers up shows “significant positive synergistic effects” between these policies. For example, “[f]or poor children, the combined benefits of growing up in districts with both greater Head Start spending and greater K-12 per-pupil spending were significantly greater than the sum of the independent effects of the two investments in isolation.”

Why then is integration viewed as a noble but failed experiment? Why is the conventional wisdom that Head Start provides little to no benefit, just the opportunity for fraud? What explains the lack of popularity of funding formulas that offer more assistance to schools that need it more?

Part of the problem, they say, is spin. In the segregation context, for example, “even outside the Deep South recalcitrant whites manipulated and marshaled public will in a way that allowed opponents of integration to appear not to be racists. They resorted to powerful code words—like 'neighborhood schools,' 'local control,' and 'forced busing,' to summon profound, if rarely spoken, racial fears.… This strategy worked, and it contains a devilish dilemma: even as researchers ... have shown that integration works, much of the public has been erroneously convinced of the very opposite.” 

Part of it is “our collective impatience, an unwillingness to see measures through, a willingness to abandon anything and everything that does not show immediate results.” Here, Johnson points a finger at both policymakers and other researchers: "Education reform often proceeds by a kind of punctuated equilibrium. We implement some new whiz-bang reform, let it run its course for a little while, but then become impatient because things haven’t improved as much as we wanted them too: test scores haven’t jumped, for example. Studies are published to confirm that, yes, indeed, X reform failed to achieve Y effect…. New fixes are tried, reversed, and then new fixes are tried again…. Too often, we take the pan out of the oven far too early, only to find the result woefully undercooked…. Other [academics take] snapshots of school funding reform efforts [that may provide] some clarity, but only about a strictly limited period of time. Our study sought to take something closer to a time-lapsed video, looking at the effect of school funding reform over decades." 

With a long view, Johnson’s work (the intricacies of which can be found in the endnotes) proves that Head Start and school funding reform have worked. What’s more, “[c]ontrary to popular wisdom, integration has benefited—and continues to benefit—African Americans, whether that benefit is translated into educational attainment, earnings, social stability, or incarceration rates. Whites, meanwhile, lose nothing from opening their classrooms to others.” 

Throughout, the authors’ writing is clear and as close to conversational as academic discourse can be. They even produce some truly stunning prose, for example, “segregation is not only about separation of people, but it is segregations—hoarding, in fact—of opportunity” and “[l]ike many poor people, both then and now, she understood the value of education but didn’t have the tools to extract that value for her own children.”

"Children of the Dream" ends with a forceful call to action that is as optimistic as it is stark: “How much longer will we bemoan the state of affairs while lamenting that nothing can be done? Much can be done…. We have tools that are, in some cases, decades old, but that nevertheless have the capacity to drastically correct some of the gravest inequalities in American society ... that have flummoxed policymakers for decades…. [Realizing this potential] will require an extraordinary coordination of resources and effort, but every solution proffered in these pages is fully within the realm of possibility.”

Johnson and Nazaryan conclude, “We believe that the American project is not so much imperfect as it is not yet fully realized.” Their book, however, is—and I highly recommend it to anyone who cares about education or inequality.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Public education is a contentious subject, and grand reforms or even tweaks are often met with enmity. “Children of the Dream” seeks to explain and examine why school integration is successful, but also why it is not more successful. The first half of the book lays out the positive effects of integration but notes instances where we as a public have gotten in our own way. The authors make a compelling case for the interactive nature of many variables, such as consistent funding, class sizes, and hiring effective teachers. They chart many positive benefits, particularly for African American and other minority children. The second half of the book examines significant efforts at integration (i.e., Charlotte schools) as well as instances where integration was resisted (i.e., Boston, Alabama). Lastly, there is a brief conclusion listing things that need to change for public education to be improved. Overall, the book is heavy on history and giving the story for how we got to now. The explanations of charts and studies for the effects on education are clear, though perhaps not written as engagingly as a Stephen Dubner or Malcom Gladwell. The conclusion may strike some as being lacking, as it briefly details actions for change but leaves out the concrete steps for how we do this. However, I believe the authors exemplify the shear scale of the needed change, that it is so great and will take such a long time that a step-by-step plan does not easily exist. I think that this is a useful book for serious students of education policy as well as those interested in history or social science.

[Aaron Berryhill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice read that ultimately forms a rather compelling argument about the need for increased integration in our schools. The book begins with a substantial amount of data relating the level of integration and funding to student success. Of course it is hard to capture the true realities of the education system with data alone, and fortunately the second half of the book fills in the conclusions of the data with more context and case studies of specific school systems. This combination emphasizes the importance of integration in a school setting, while also demonstrating just how elusive this ideal has become in practice for a variety of reasons. The book is a nice addition to the field and includes both classic and new examples surrounding the integration of our schools.

[Leila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a data-driven analysis of the benefits of school desegregation across the United States, supplemented by the historical trends in school integration and resegregation. It did get a bit repetitive towards the end but I really appreciated Johnson's ability to seamlessly transition between stories about specific individuals to quantitative analyses of the data.